Sexist NZ

Written By: - Date published: 2:29 pm, October 25th, 2012 - 10 comments
Categories: business, feminism, sexism - Tags: , ,

Two recent posts from NRT.

Slipping

The World Economic Forum has released its annual Global Gender Gap Index , and the news is again bad. After years of steady progress under Labour, our score first stagnated, and has now actually dropped slightly. The reason? National’s sexist candidate selection practices, which saw the number of women in Parliament actually decrease last election.

This is what happens when get government of, by, and for rich white males: everyone else gets shafted to pay for the greed of the over-privileged.

An embarrassment

So, Business NZ are sexists. Who’d have thunk it? Its not as if we haven’t had plenty of other examples of the rich dead white males they represent expressing similar views. But apart from being morally odious, and a poor commentary on the views of their members, it also tells us something else: that they have no idea about employment law. New Zealand women have had the right to take a year’s maternity leave for the past 25 years; all Sue Moroney’s bill changes is who pays for some of it.

But then, that’s Business NZ in a nutshell: permanently 25 years out of date. And an embarrassment because of it.

With respect to the second issue, note Sure Moroney’s scathing reply to Business NZ on Red Alert.

10 comments on “Sexist NZ ”

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  1. karol 1
    25 October 2012 at 3:07 pm

    To clarify NZ’s shift on the WEF Global gender Gap Index, in a post a little while ago, I quoted an overview of the stats for NZ in the 2011 GGGI:
     

    NZ does better retaining its position at 6th. The rankings are derived from calculations using separate rankings for the gender gaps in Economic Participation and Opportunity (NZ is 11th); Educational attainment (NZ 1st equal with many countries); Political empowerment (NZ 8th; Aussie 38th); and Health and Survival (a real shocker, NZ is 92nd).

     
    The NZ rankings for 2012 are:
    Overall ranking still 6th (Aussie 25th)
    Economic Participation and Opportunity (NZ is 15th); Educational attainment (NZ 1st equal with many countries); Political empowerment (NZ 9th; Aussie 42nd); and Health and Survival (a real shocker, NZ is 94th).
     
    The biggest drop is in Economic Participation and Opportunity with a slight drop in Political Empowerment.
     
    I think the Health and Survival stat may refer to the fact that, unlike many other countries, men are not gaining on women in the average length of life – probably reflects growing class inequalities.
     
     

  2. karol 2
    25 October 2012 at 3:32 pm

    On the Business NZ issue: this exposes several layers of disconnect amonst some of the top right wing business bosses.
     
    I have been hearing for decades from right wing business people that those of us who work in the public sector (which contains many of the jobs traditionally done by women), don’t experience “reality”. 
     
    But BusNZ’s “reality” seems to be a pretty barren one, disconnected from experiences of ordinary workers, as well as from the relaities of most women’s lives.  When asked by a TV3 reporter for an example of women losisng skills while on parental leave, MacKay gave the example of a top rugby player taking time off playing rugby – so relevant to the experience of women having babies!
     
    BusNZ’s mindscape seems to be a sparse “reality” of balance sheets and rubgy.

  3. CentreOfLeft 3
    25 October 2012 at 4:30 pm

    Whatever happened to Alasdair Thompson anyway?

  4. Draco T Bastard 4
    25 October 2012 at 5:31 pm

    This seems to fit in here.

  5. Dr Terry 5
    25 October 2012 at 5:40 pm

    Business NZ may not realise the large extent to which it is being made to look foolish, and to lose a lot of respect. People of these moronic opinions are actually running our Businesses? I ask you!

    • karol 5.1
      25 October 2012 at 6:00 pm

      I don’t think that attitude is shared by all NZ businessmen – certainly not by some I know, and some in my family.  It’s the sort of thing I used to hear in the 60s. 
       
      I just checked to see who is involved with BusNZ.  On their BusNZ Council page they have a pic of a group of white men in suits and 1 woman. On their page for BusNZ’s Major Companies Group, there’s a long list of member companies, from ACC, through power companies, Fonterra, PoAkl, SkyCity to Westpac and Zespri.
       
      That’s a load of big corporates then.  And in Question Time today, Moroney was probing for BusNZ being part of the Nat govermnment’s cronies.

    • Reagan Cline 5.2
      25 October 2012 at 6:43 pm

      Keep on asking Doc !

  6. captain hook 6
    25 October 2012 at 7:18 pm

    of course nz is sexist.
    either they think they own the woman and she is their property or they want a bit of bait for their unconscious homosexuality.
    or in the business case they want people who they perceive to be weak and they can enjoy standing over to redress their infantile anxieties of fantasised omnipotence and who they can work to death in the meantime.
    it aint rocket science.

  7. kiwicommie 7
    26 October 2012 at 9:45 pm

    I would add ageism and discrimination based just on looks to that list. Some won’t hire anyone that doesn’t look like country x top model, others won’t hire someone that is too old or too young; some New Zealand employers hide between the requirement for ‘New Zealand experience’ to hide their racism. High unemployment brings out the worst in people, especially in employers and politicians.

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